BMI Airlines carry migrants who are being forcibly deported from the UK against their will and in the process are making huge profits from human misery.

The people BMI forcibly deport certainly haven’t done anything wrong. But they are being treated as criminals for doing what humans have done for thousands of years – moving to escape war, persecution, torture, physical abuse and poverty.

In the last 3 months BMI have agreed to be involved in deportations to the Sudan, Ethiopia and Iran. These are all countries with repressive governments, where returned refugees face Read the rest of this entry »

Today was an international day of action for trade unionist Yahya Al-Faifi, who is under threat of deportation to Saudi Arabia. There were protests outside the offices of the Home Secretary in Whitehall, outside the UK Border Agency in Cardiff, as well as outside the British embassy in Brussels.

Yahya and his family fled Saudi Arabia after threats of fatal attack because of his trade union activity, eventually settling in south Wales. However, Yahya has had his application for asylum refused and he now faces the very real possibility of being deported back to a country with a horrific human rights record where trade unions are illegal.

It is very likely that if deported it will be BMI Airlines who are called on to do the governments dirty work, as they have previously Read the rest of this entry »

This coming Tuesday 20th January will be the fourth day of action against BMI Airlines. We once again call on all those who oppose the deportation industry and the inhumane treatment of migrants to contact BMI and let them know what you think of their profiteering from this cruel practice.

As the campaign against them gathers pace, it is clear that BMI will be beginning 2009 in a similar way to that of 2008. Last January, the airline were heavily criticised for twice attempting to deport Veneera Aliyeva and her two young children who had been living in Swansea.

On the most recent ‘Shut BMI Airlines day’ on December 20th, No Borders South Wales activists went to Cardiff International Airport where ‘Bmi baby’ operate flights from. Bmi baby is a subsidiary company of BMI Airlines. The aim of the visit was to hand out leaflets explaining how BMI Airlines make money from the practice of carrying people against their will to places they do not want to go to.

After only a few minutes of giving out leaflets in the terminal, including to employees at the Bmi baby desk, the airport manager advised that he would have to call the police. Four officers from the ‘Airport Police Group’, armed with guns and tasers, quickly caught up with us and informed us that we were being stopped and searched under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act. Despite questioning our obligation to provide our names and addresses, we were told that we would be arrested, detained and questioned by ‘Special Branch’ if we refused. The Stop and Search records that we were given identify no grounds for search apart from ‘operation aviation’.

If these officers had real concerns that we were a terrorist threat, then surely they would have actually searched us and our belongings. However they did neither. Their use of the Terrorism Act served to intimidate us and to stop our protest, as well as attempt to gather further information about us.

It is another clear example of the intensification of the surveillance society and the growing criminalisation of protest. The state has used the fear of terrorism to bring in a raft of new legislation that give the police unprecedented powers. One particularly worrying change, as we and others have reported previously, is the emergence of an unaccountable, privatised police force. The implications these changes have for social control represent a major threat to everyone’s freedom.

At around 6pm on Dec 15th, a group of no borders activists paid Cardiff’s Winter Wonderland a visit. As the event is sponsored by Bmi baby, a subsidiary of BMI Airlines, we thought that it would be an ideal opportunity to let the people of Cardiff know about BMI’s less palatable activities and of our growing campaign against them.

By sponsoring an event like Winter Wonderland, BMI attempt to portray themselves as a caring, family-friendly company. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Not wishing to be complete kill-joys, we made the effort and dressed up for the occasion. Sporting sad baby faces, we handed out over 100 leaflets informing people of BMI’s role of carrying migrants against their will and the huge profits they make from the human misery this causes.

We were aware that we were leafleting at a family-orientated event and we were not aiming to disrupt or block anyone’s enjoyment of Winter Wonderland. However, despite no negative comments or objections raised by members of the public, we were asked to leave by someone in charge. Leaflets were then given out at the entrances outside of Winter Wonderland to passers by, but even this activity was disrupted by a security officer who told us that we had to leave the area, as the land (including the roads and pavements) in front of the City Hall was all private property! He then snatched leaflets from the hands of two activists. However, we continued giving leaflets to people and left of our own accord after about an hour of leafleting.

This coming Saturday 20 December will be the third day of action against BMI Airlines. We once again call on all those who oppose the deportation industry, and the inhumane treatment of migrants who are subjected to the wider regime of control that it forms an integral part of, to contact BMI and let them know what you think of their profiteering from this cruel practice. A full list of contact details can be found on this leaflet. Being a Saturday, we suggest that callers focus on phoning the Reservations & General Enquiries numbers :01332 854854 & 01332 648181 and the Bmi baby Reservations, 01332 648181.

The shut-down BMI campaign day coincides with a day of action that has been called in solidarity with the recent uprising in Greece, which erupted following the murder of a teenager Alexandros Grigoropoulos by a police officer in Athens on 6 December. As a migrant solidarity organisation we stand with all those struggling against state repression and for freedom and equality for all!

The call out states:

Friday 12/12, the assembly of the occupied Athens Polytechnic decided to make a callout for European and global-wide actions of resistance in the memory of all assassinated youth, migrants and all those who were struggling against the lackeys of the state, Carlo Juliani; the French suburb youths; Alexandros Grigoropoulos and the countless others, all around the world, a day of international action against state murders, Saturday 20.12.2008. Our lives do not belong to the states and their assassins! The memory of the assassinated brothers and sisters, friends and comrades stays alive through our struggles! We do not forget our brothers and sisters, we do not forgive their murderers. Please translate and spread around this message for a common day of coordinated actions of resistance in as many places around the world as possible.

We are planning to again distribute leaflets about BMI’s role in deportations at Winter Wonderland on Thursday 18 December. Meet 5.30pm on the National Museum steps.

Though there were some concerns over BMI’s response to phone calls, we are confident that this campaign is building momentum, we encourage everyone to organise against BMI on the 20th of each month- let them know that their involvement in deportation is not acceptable!

Before BB was deported by BMI on 20th September his friends and supporters organised an evening to raise awareness about his campaign. Here’s some videos from that night that have recently appeared online:

‘everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution’ article 14 of the universal declaration of human rights

in great great britain
land of hope and glory
land of the royal fairy tale story
patrol your borders obey their orders
but we spent 53 million on the dome
but close our hospitals and moan
at asylum seekers taking our money
our homes our jobs our liberty
lets lock em up before they destroy our economy
“ssssseeeeeeeeeee
we’re valleee people we aint no racists
but if they cum yer you’ll get ower fists”
in great great britain

this dysunited nation of red. white. and. blue.
of white male bigotry and children learning through
sun headlines and telegraphed lies
cameron proclaims brown denies
as refugees die in front of our eyes
as girls are stoned for falling in love
and men castrated for the forbidden touch

patrol your borders obey their orders
but we welcome hitachi aiwa toshiba and lg
we worship ronaldo nani and theire henri
yet we spit at frightened refugees
i propose that next time a politician or anybody mentions
the words detention and refugee
so casually-
i will ask them to look in my bible-
the dictionary
where they will see that refuge is the word before refugee
and detente comes before detention
so-
ignore their orders destroy all borders;
ignore their orders destroy all borders;

Following the successful day of action against BMI last month, we’re calling on people to do the same again and shut down BMI on Thursday 20th November.

A CALL TO ACTION

Everyday, an average of 180 migrants are deported from the UK. That’s one person every eight minutes.

These people haven’t done anything wrong.

They are criminalised for doing what humans have done for thousands of years: moving in search of a better life. Moving to escape war, persecution, torture, physical abuse, poverty…

Governments across the world do not want us to see those being deported as people. They want to shroud them under statistics and treat them as pieces of meat.

Airline companies are a key link in the deportation industry. Without them it would be impossible for the state to implement this aspect of the migration regime and there can be no migration controls without deportations.

People being deported are often handcuffed on the flight and there have been numerous reports of physical assaults on people being deported by the security personnel who escort them.

On 20th September 2008, No Borders South Wales activist Babi Badalov was deported on a BMI flight to Azerbaijan. In an email following the deportation, BMI CEO Nigel Turner said that:

“I do not have the time or resources to investigate each case myself nor do BMI”

But BMI were given plenty of information and time to ‘investigate’. Despite hundreds of telephone calls, emails and faxes to BMI raising objections and concerns, they chose to ignore this and ensured that the deportation took place.

BMI employees told those ringing on the day that they could not refuse to carry people being removed and it was out of their control. However, other airlines have refused to carry out deportations in the past. XL Airways announced in 2007 that they would no longer carry refused asylum-seekers who were being forcibly removed from the UK.

BMI is the UK’s second largest full service airline. By taking part in deportations they do the governments dirty work for them and in the process make money from human misery. In 2007 BMI reported profits of £15.5 million. How much of this was soaked in the blood of migrants who they deported against their will?

Following the successful day of action against BMI on October the 20th, No Borders South Wales are calling for another day of action to shut down BMI on the 20th of November.

We call on BMI to no longer take part in the forced deportation of migrants.

We are focusing this campaign around the 20th day of each month, after the date that BMI took Babi away from those who loved him and those he loved.

Please contact BMI and register your disapproval at their role in deporting people to places they do not wish to go back to, for whatever the reason this may be. Urge BMI to follow the other airlines who have taken an ethical stance and who refuse to carry out any more deportations.

On 20th November let’s once again hit BMI with everything we’ve got! Ring, fax and e-mail the company as much as possible on this day and every month thereafter until BMI no longer take part in this cruel practice.

With the start of the campaign to shut down BMI just around the corner we thought we’d fill you in on what BMI’s CEO Nigel Turner had to say in relation to their carrying out of deportations. The extracts are taken from an email correspondence between Nigel and a member of the public, who on reading about BB’s deportation decided to contact Nigel to inform him of the negative impact that BMI’s role in deporting people could have on the company.

Not surprisingly Nigel didn’t see anything wrong in BMI carrying out deportations. His final email stated:

“I fear we are not going to agree on this one, to take your stance would involve us making a decision that the UK borders and the Courts of the land do not properly safeguards of individuals.

That is not a position I can take…“

Nigel really needs to get his head out of the clouds cos from whatever angle you look at it the safeguards are not proper and never will be and things are getting worse. The governments current agenda with respect to refugees is clear. Deport more people than claim asylum. Hardly a recipe for Read the rest of this entry »

On 20th September at 3.15pm gay radical artist and No Borders South Wales activist BB was deported on a BMI flight to Azerbaijan.

BB sought asylum in the UK in 2006 following years of persecution because of his sexuality. His brothers on finding out that he was gay had threatened to kill him, with one attack from his eldest brother leaving him with only eight teeth.

The radical nature of his art and poetry had also led him to become a target of government repression. A number of his artworks had mocked members of the ruling elite. The most famous of which, and the one that led to a number of threatening visits by the Ministry of National Security (MNS), Azerbaijan’s modern day version of the KGB, was a photographic piece in which he parodied the ubiquitous statues of the Azerbaijani President, who, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, destroyed many of Lenin’s and erected ones of himself instead.

BB was dispersed to Cardiff in December in 2006 and quickly immersed himself in the activist scene there. He regularly helped out at Cardiff’s social centre PAD and despite his precarious immigration status was involved in many campaigns and was a much loved and active member of No Borders South Wales.

BB was snatched on Tuesday when he attended his weekly signing at the UK Border Agency building in Cardiff.

When he was informed that he was going to be detained and deported BB responded by saying:

“I feel sick”

To which the UK Border agent told him:

“well you make us sick, you’re going back where you belong”

Nothing less than we should expect from the kinds of people who do this job. In a recent article in Metro Vicky Lacey, an Arrest Team leader from the UK Border Agency clearly highlights the dehumanisation that must occur in order for the border regime to be implemented, stating:

“If I felt sorry for everyone I wouldn’t get out of bed. I just have to treat them as cases rather than people”

See goes on to say that:

“I’ve been trained to use a baton and handcuffs”

But probably the most disturbing statement in this interview was her description of workplace and dawn raids on families as enjoyable:

“The raids are fun. I’m not tied to my desk and every day is different”

Within an hour of being arrested BB was handcuffed, bundled into the back of a blacked out van and taken to Rumney police station. Here a friend was able to see him and found him a complete wreck.

The day after his incarceration a demo was held outside the UK Border Agency building at 31-33 Newport Rd, Cardiff. Over 50 people gathered outside the building in order to show their solidarity with BB with the front steps of the building being covered with banners. Many then went up to Rumney police station and were able to pass BB a card containing messages of support.

Late Wednesday night he was then transported under the cover of darkness to Campsfield detention prison, Oxford.

When he arrived he sent the following message:

“PlizPLIZpliz i wontWONTwont GO back. i WANT die HERE THAN AZERBAIJAN. HELL O FAKING 21st Century! Can I stay in UK? Can I live 5 year happy here? FAK THE LAW MAKER! humanity”

Whilst in detention BB was given a medical examination. The subsequent report strongly recommended that BB be given a proper psychiatric evaluation. Despite this, the Home Office continued with its plans to deport.

BB was initially due to be deported at 8pm on Saturday the 20th on an Azerbaijan Airlines flight to Baku. However, following a huge amount of harassment from friends, supporters and many other activists from around the country Azerbaijan Airlines bowed to the pressure and refused to carry him. But this did not stop the Home Office rescheduling his deportation to a British Midland Airways (BMI) flight at 3.15pm the same day. This time despite a huge struggle, which continued up until the last minute BB was eventually deported.

Friend and No Borders South Wales activist, Noah Moore said:

“While BB is currently safe, if anything happens to him the state and BMI will have blood on their hands. His deportation has left a huge hole in all his friends lives and demonstrates the brutality of immigration controls. He was ripped away from his new home, friends and people that loved him just so the government can keep its deportation statistics up. We didn’t fight to keep BB here out of compassion or because he had suffered. We don’t care why BB came. We fought for BB because but he is one of us, a fighter for freedom of movement, for equality, and a world without borders”.

Following his deportation BB went into hiding but he was able to send the following email message:

FAKKK YOU MISS JACQUYI LOCKSMITH FROM HELLBAIJAN

FAKK YOU UNITED KING KONG YANKEE GO KHOMEBASHI

WILL NOT DIED N KILL MYSELF

WILL CONITINE EXCEPT YOU GIVING ME ADVENTURE PAIN

I AM LIVE BUT ITS VERY TERRIBLE PLACE TO BE HERE

I AM AFFRAID OF MY FAMILY COME FIND ME HERE

I LAV ALL ALL YOU THERE

YOU ALL SO GOOD AND NICE PLESANT TO ME

We will post more precise details soon but we can assure all those we are concerned about him that BB is currently safe.

While BB’s deportation has left us all saddened and very much in a state of shock it has also served to doubled our resolve to continue to struggle for an end to all migration controls and the criminalisation of people who have done nothing other than cross artificial, yet brutally real borders, in order to build new lives for themselves. We are now more than ever committed to fighting for a world where people are free to move as and when they like. Where people’s relationships can not be torn apart just because someone happens to have been born in one place rather than another.